Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in our confident hope, be patient in trouble and
keep on praying. Romans 12:12

There’s always a counterfeit offer in the world for what
Jesus offers, often it looks shiny and nice for a little while but soon turns
to ashes. Many people have
looked here and there and found what they thought were answers only to see them
dissolve. Relationships where they
thought they’d found the one who would make them happy, careers with power and
prestige that give them public recognition but emptiness in their soul,
religions with promises of peace or prosperity that end in pain. Hope maybe the biggest counterfeit of them
all. We put our hope in all
kinds of things that offer no guarantees.
So many are hoping that their 6 numbers will come up, with that kind of
cash, surely all their problems would disappear. So many people are putting their hope in long
shot waiting for the big pay off or the easy answer, just for the chance that someone or something
is going to pull through and then they’ll be set. But that’s no real hope at all is it?

Paul tells the Romans about a different kind of hope. It’s not a fleeting hope. It’s not a roll of the dice. It’s not a statistically calculated system
with high probabilities of success.
Sometimes I wish we had come up with a new word for it, sometimes our
language is so limited and twisted that its meaning goes right over our head
and gets lumped into the counterfeit offer.
No, Paul is telling them to celebrate because of the real offer that’s
been put on the table. There’s no fine
print legal jargon that goes with it. There’s
no conditional clause to give a back door retraction of this hope. It’s a real guarantee, the kind our
generation doesn’t know much about anymore.
The kind of guarantee where if you were told something wasn’t going to
break, it didn’t break. It lasted for
your whole life and you passed it on to your kids. When you find this hope, I mean really find
it, you know you’ve been given something that’s not getting returned. You don’t need to buy the extended warranty
in case it breaks – the manufacturer warranty will do just fine. It’s
bulletproof.

For Paul, when they called him Saul, hope was found in rules
and laws and systems and ceremonies. He knew
them inside out, front to back, an expert in all things religion. He could
argue the points and enforce the consequences of missing them. What happened to Saul happens to everyone who
gets devoured by religion. He knew
everything about what the scriptures said about God, he’d just never met Him
himself. He turned angry; he turned
violent toward those who had met Him. He
tried to exterminate them. His heart was
cold because he’d search for hope in something that offered no hope at
all. His heart was bitter because he saw
people who had found hope outside of where he thought it was to be found.

But Jesus is mercy and offers it to everyone. He met Saul and showed him what real hope
looks like. The change was total, even
to the name he was known by. Paul, the
new creation in Christ Jesus, would help spread the hope he once tried to
exterminate around the known world. So great
is this hope, we can all rejoice and help spread it, just by telling people
about Jesus; His life, death and resurrection to set us free from the power of
sin and death. A hope that last, a hope
that is secure, a hope that comes with a promise that, one day, all this mess
we’re in will be made right.

But in the mean time, as we look confidently ahead to the
day when Jesus turns everything around, our hope gives an ability to be patient
in trouble. Trouble is coming, I promise
(actually He promised). Persecution for
following him, ridicule just for mentioning his name, loss, sacrifice, pain;
the realities of living out our hope in fallen world. But with our hope, that assurance that he’ll
rescue us, comes a new found gift, a new found source to draw on. The Holy Spirit that is given gives us the facility
to be patient, to get through, to wait it out, to look forward to something
better, to survive and even thrive in the face of what looks like sure
failure. Trouble comes but it’s no match
for anyone who waits on Jesus to rescue them.
Rescue is coming.

He is coming.
Hold fast.

But how, how can we withstand the trouble, how can wait out
the storms?

Keep on praying. Keep
Him in the front of everything. Keep him
at the center. Let him bring up the rear guard. His Spirit has linked you together with the
Father and the Son, so that you need never be disconnected again from the one
who created and sustains you. In fact,
even when you don’t know you’re praying, he is praying for you. The light is always on, the door is always open. As you pray, the mess that looks so monstrous
fades in the light of hope that is immovable.
As you pray, the doubt that looks so daunting becomes a mole hill shadow
of the hope that is indestructible. As you pray
the fear that is so paralyzing pales in comparison to the assurance in the hope
that is perfected in your faith by the one who loves you perfectly. Keep on praying, keep on getting closer to
Jesus, keep on listening to his response.

About Me

I have a wonderful wife Gemma, the most beautiful little girl, Isla Grace and baby boy, Levi Hunter. I am a Youth Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church. I've been singing and writing and playing guitar since I was 15, I want to write a book. I am trying to chase after Jesus the best way I know how.